


Early Days

by EmJ93



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 03:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18563047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmJ93/pseuds/EmJ93
Summary: After finally managing to get Vela off to sleep, Aloth and Ariela end up discussing their relationship.





	Early Days

“Of course, you do have to stay here now.” Ariela informed, a cheeky grin playing on her face as she tilted her head to the side and regarded her lover. “That’s just the way it is. I don’t make the rules.”

“I’m sure that-” Aloth began, glancing up from his book, but she cut him off before he could finish the thought.

“No. It took  _so long_  to get her to sleep,” Ariela nodded her head in the direction of the small bed in the corner of the room where her daughter had finally settled down. She wasn’t entirely certain which one of her friends had snuck the girl sugary sweets behind her back, but she  _was_  sure that when she found out, they were going to pay for it. In the morning. After Vela had had a full night’s sleep and Ariela had been allowed an hour to herself, without the pressure to hunt a God- or to be a responsible parent- looming over her. “I can’t risk you waking her up by going out of the door. I’m  _not_  going through all of that again. I’m afraid you’re stuck here for the night, darling.”

“Well, I’m certain that there are much worse places to be stuck for the night.” Aloth remarked, a soft smile creeping over his face as he held her gaze for a few moments. He paused in the middle of turning the page, moving his hand away from the book in his lap and instead reaching out to brush a stray strand of hair from Ariela’s face, his fingers lingering against her cheek as he did so. “Your company is always enjoyable, after all. And I really wouldn’t want to wake Vela.”

“Hmm…” Ariela hummed, intercepting Aloth’s hand as he began to pull it back, and entwining her fingers with his. “Did I just crack the secret of getting Aloth all to myself? Because I  _would_  be willing to sacrifice some of my sweet treats to my daughter if it meant getting to spend more time alone with you.”

Aloth chuckled, before his face dissolved into a particularly pensive expression, and she began to worry that she had said something wrong. She had only been teasing. She had assumed that he would know that.

“Am I…?” He began, and then trailed off, frowning deeply. “ _Should_ I… be spending more time with you? I don’t entirely know…”

“No!” Ariela’s eyes widened as the word escaped her lips. “I mean, not ‘no’. But not 'yes’ either. There are no rules around this, darling. And I made you a promise, didn’t I? No demands, no expectations. Whatever you’re comfortable with giving is exactly enough for me." 

"You keep saying that, but-”

“Hush.” Ariela tugged him closer, squeezing his hand as she met his eye with the most serious expression that she could muster. “I say it because its true. I  _never_  want to make you uncomfortable, so I will  _always_  respect your boundaries. I know I can get a little… excitable… on occasion, but if I’m ever too much for you, you only have to tell me. You know this, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ve cared for you for a long time now. As a friend and… well, as something more than that. Your happiness is the most important thing to me.”

“As is yours to me. And I am sometimes concerned that… well, you do so much for other people. I don’t want you to sacrifice your own happiness for mine.”

Ariela laughed at that, bringing her free hand up to her face to muffle the noise so that she would not wake her daughter. “Darling, do you not realise how happy you make me? The very idea that you actually feel the same way about me as I do about you is…” She trailed off for a moment, trying to find the right words to express her sentiment. “I think that I must be dreaming. Sometimes. When you kiss me, I don’t know how that moment can possibly be real. Sometimes I wonder if I’m actually still dead, and this is just some beautiful dream that my mind came up with to distract me." 

"I…” Aloth barely managed to begin his sentence, before Ariela noticed the subtle signs of Iselmyr pushing to the forefront; a slightly different set of the face, a wilder look in his eye, his thoughts a little louder and less guarded. “Fye, will you stop with yer stewin’ and kiss yer lass, already!?”

Her voice was a little too loud, and Ariela quickly looked back in Vela’s direction, letting out a sigh of relief a few moments later, when she was certain that her daughter had not stirred.

“ _Iselmyr_. Can we please use an inside voice? Because I swear to every God there is, if you wake my daughter right now, I will personally come into Aloth’s head and I will figure out a way to  _make you be quiet._ ”

Iselmyr flashed her a flirty smile, and Ariela couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Sounds right cozy. But if yer fixin’ tae get close, ye only have tae ask.”

“Can you…  _not_?”

“Indeed.” Aloth remarked, re-emerging with a sigh. “If you could  _not_ interfere in my private moments with Ariela, that really would be most agreeable.”

Ariela giggled a little despite herself, squeezing Aloth’s hand again and inching herself closer to him. “I suppose that’s another thing we’re still figuring out. But, um…  _well_. Not to agree with Iselmyr or anything, but…” She smiled softly, gaze flickering between his eyes and his lips. “If you’d like to kiss me, then you are most welcome to.”

“Hmm.” Aloth smirked slightly, already beginning to close the short distance between them. “Well. Far be it from me to listen to Iselmyr, but… Perhaps I will.”


End file.
